Monday, January 07, 2013

Retired priest charged for cover-up

A RETIRED Catholic priest has become
only the second man in Australia's history charged with covering up the
child sexual abuse of another clergyman. The 81-year-old man was arrested after he took himself to
Charlestown police station, near Newcastle, at about 9.20am and was
charged with accessory before the fact of indecent assault of a child
and concealing the offence of another man.

Police will allege the
cover-up relates to the sexual abuse of a nine-year-old boy between 1982
and 1984 at a residence in Nelson Bay and on a beach at Newcastle.

The
first man in Australia charged with concealing similar offences, former
priest Tom Brennan, died of cancer in October last year before his case
reached court.

The latest man to be charged was granted conditional bail yesterday and will appear in Newcastle Local Court on January 29.

Police made the arrest through its long-running Strike Force
Georgian, which was called together in March 2008 to investigate
allegations of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in the Hunter
Valley.

In December, police arrested an 80-year-old man and
charged him with three counts of indecent assault allegedly committed
against two victims in the Hunter Valley in the 1960s and 70s.

To
date, police have charged six priests and two people connected with the
Catholic Church with paedophilia offences and offences related to
paedophilia under Strike Force Georgian.

A concurrent
investigation into the possible sexual abuse of a boy of 14 was opened
late last year after the Anglican Church referred its own allegations
relating to four Anglican priests to NSW Police.

Three of the
Anglican priests under investigation were formally defrocked by the
church in September following an internal church inquiry, while the
fourth was prohibited from exercising any ministry for five years.